It had been three days since I was shot.
For those three days, my sister and the clan members
had been looking for a trustworthy ripperdoc
to install chrome in me.
At last, they found a ripperdoc today,
and we went to his clinic.
"I just need to install a socket and shell in this kid, right?"
"That's right. We brought more than enough money,
so there won't be a problem as long as you don't try anything funny."
"What crazy bastard would try to pull something on you people?
Unless he had a death wish, anyway."
As he said that,
the ripperdoc began examining my body.
It was a simple test
to determine my minimum cyberware compatibility.
Once the examination was over and the results came in,
the ripperdoc's face twisted up.
"Why? Is there a problem?"
"Well, take a look at this."
Showing my sister the results,
the ripperdoc began whispering to her with a grave expression.
There was definitely something wrong.
"Kid, I'm sorry, but I can't perform the installation."
"Why not?"
"I don't know what kind of body you have,
but your compatibility might not even reach one percent."
"Then I..."
"External armor would be fine, but if you install chrome,
you'll go psycho the instant it's in you."
"That can't be..."
"It's unfortunate, but there's nothing to be done.
I'll at least fit you with some external armor."
This was hopeless.
In this world, surviving without even basic chrome
was impossible.
"At least with external armor, it can serve as a socket,
so you'll be able to read shards."
"Bane, don't worry so much.
Your sister will find a way to work it out somehow."
Seeing how dejected I was, the ripperdoc and my sister
did their best to offer what comfort they could.
"Then wait here a moment."
The ripperdoc went into what looked like a storage room
and started rummaging through all kinds of things.
About five minutes later,
he brought out a half-glove-shaped piece of external armor
and modified it as he fiddled with it.
According to him, it was external armor compatible with
the latest-standard shards,
though he had altered it slightly to fit me.
When I put on the half-glove,
it adjusted itself to the size of my hand.
"Thirteen million, two hundred thousand eddies."
"Here."
My sister handed over a shard, took my hand,
and led me out of the ripperdoc's clinic.
"Bane, even without that kind of chrome, I can make you strong."
My sister looked at me with a face full of resolve
and continued.
"So as soon as we get back, we're training."
That day, training began for me—
training written as training and read as hell training.
At first, it was simple endurance training and basic strength training.
Even as I trained, I kept thinking about [Kresnik],
which that strange man I'd seen that day had mentioned.
What the hell was it?
That guy would know this kind of thing.
Kresnik, Kresnik...
Greek? Norse? Celtic?
—There's this seriously badass vampire hunter called Kresnik in Slavic mythology.
A vampire hunter.
It was the legendary vampire hunter from Slavic mythology
that guy had babbled to me about only recently.
If I pieced together what he had said,
Kresnik was a being and guardian that could transform into a white animal
and possessed powerful physical abilities.
If that was true, then this really was
a genre with a dash of fantasy mixed in.
Did that mean I could transform too?
"But how do I transform?"
It didn't seem like all I had to do was think, Transform.
I should've listened more carefully.
"Hmm..."
"Bane, is something bothering you?"
Timothy, one of the clan members, spoke to me.
"No. I was just thinking about animals."
"Really? Why were you thinking about animals?"
"I was just curious?"
"Then how about I give you this?"
He was holding a shard in his hand.
It probably contained something related to animals.
"Yeah! Give it to me."
"Sure, here."
He gave me the shard, then returned to where he had been.
The shard's contents were exactly what I'd expected.
It was overflowing with every kind of information on numerous canine animals.
It covered wolves, the most representative canine animal, in great detail,
and even included anatomical diagrams.
I felt like I was beginning to get the hang of transforming.
I immediately ran into the forest.
Starting with the wolf skeletal system I'd seen,
I finished visualizing everything all the way to its organ systems.
Then I transformed into a wolf.
When I pictured the human organ systems again,
my body returned to being human.
"There really is fantasy mixed into this."
If fantasy had been added to the genre of my life,
then I could survive in this world.
Thinking that my one-percent survival rate had risen
to around fifty percent, my despair was once again
filling with a little hope and excitement.
"Hey, Bane."
Just as I was grinning like an idiot with delight,
my sister's voice suddenly came from behind me.
"Sis."
"What's got you smiling so happily?"
"Well, it's just..."
"Did you succeed?"
"Huh?"
"You sometimes suddenly grow an animal tail, you know.
I raised you. Of course I'd notice that much."
"No! Don't you think it's strange for a person to turn into an animal?"
"It is strange, but you're my little brother,
and there are plenty of people a whole lot stranger than you."
"Then from the beginning..."
"Yeah, I knew it all from the start.
Hey, Bane. Want to hear something shocking?"
My sister wore a mischievous smile
and spoke in an exceptionally casual voice.
"We're half-siblings. We have different fathers.
That's why you have those abilities."
"Sis, that's way too shocking."
I honestly didn't understand how that
was supposed to not be shocking.
More shocking than the fact that we were half-siblings
was that she had known all along.
To be honest, I'd figured she must have noticed.
There was nearly a ten-to-twelve-year age gap between us, after all.
"Anyway, just think of it as saving on chrome costs.
Even without installing that stuff, you'll become plenty strong."
Just then, the sunset light fell across my sister.
Only now did she truly look like a hunter.
"Let's go get dinner."
Romance overflowed from my sister's eyes.
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